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CHAPTER 10 - IMAGES OF PMS
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Is It Real? You Bet!
Michelle
On three separate occasions Michelle, a 35-year-old nurse, left her husband. Each time she
left him it happened within the ten days before the onset of her menstrual period. The
last time she left him, her irritability, anger and irrational behavior escalated to the
point where she attacked him with a knife over a minor disagreement. The next morning, her
husband was on the phone to my office. When I first met Michelle, it was several days
after her menstrual period had started and things had significantly settled down. The
severe temper outbursts were usually over by the third day after her period started. In my
office she appeared to be a gentle, soft-spoken woman. It was hard for me to imagine that
this woman had only days before gone after her husband with a carving knife. Because her
actions were so serious, I decided to perform two brain SPECT studies on her. The first
one was done four days before the onset of her next period -- during the roughest time in
her cycle -- and the second one was done eleven days later -- during the best time of her
cycle.
My colleagues and I have observed that left-sided brain problems often correspond with a
tendency toward significant irritability, even violence. On Michelle's premenstrual
brain study before the onset of her period her limbic system (the mood control center)
near the center of her brain was significantly overactive, especially on the left side.
This "focal" limbic finding (on one side as opposed to both sides) often
correlates with cyclical tendencies toward depression and irritability. There was a
dramatic change in her second scan taken eleven days later when Michelle was feeling
better. The limbic system was normal!
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